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EDMONTON - Holiday celebrations are but a memory and so is the delicious baking that tantalized your guests. But feeding your family is an all-season affair. And nothing evokes warm family feelings like the smell of freshly baked cookies or bread.

Have you ever paused to sniff what you’re putting into all those delightful treats, though? Maybe you should.

“Opening up a bag of our flour is kind of like opening up a fresh bag of coffee beans,” says Tony Marshall, owner of Highwood Crossing. “They both give off this incredible smell. Our flour has a very distinctive bouquet — you can really smell the grain.

“It’s a very different smell than the one you’ll get from a bag of flour that’s been sitting on store shelves or in warehouses for months.”

Highwood Crossing produces an assortment of organic flours, cereals and mixes. Some of the grains are grown on Marshall’s farm near High River, just south of Calgary, and some are sourced from other local organic farmers. All of them are processed at Alberta mills.

“Our original plan was to grow all the grains ourselves. But just because you plant a seed, it doesn’t necessarily mean you’re going to have grain in 110 days. And even if you do end up with a bin full of wheat, there’s no guarantee it’s going to be of good quality. There are just too many variables that we have absolutely no control over, like the weather.

“We need be able to provide readily available, high quality products, so sourcing from other local farmers is our way of doing it.”

It’s not just about the quality of the grain, though. Freshness also enters into the equation.

“All flour, even unbleached white flour, expires,” explains Marshall. “That’s why using freshly milled flour is so important. Not only does it taste much better than flour that’s been sitting around for a while, it also reacts differently when you bake with it.

“All of our stone-ground flours are milled weekly, and the unbleached white is done every couple of weeks or as we need it. The whole process is determined by our customers and their orders — we don’t have a warehouse full of flour just sitting there waiting to be shipped.”

Calgary’s Sidewalk Citizen Bakery, known for churning out some pretty amazing scones and artisan breads, is one of those customers.

“We use Highwood Crossing flour in our sourdough breads, our baguettes — almost all of our breads, actually,” says owner Aviv Freid. “Using freshly milled flour makes such a big difference. There’s an underlying sweetness to it and it just tastes better.”

Sunnyboy — yes, of Sunnyboy Cereal fame — is another Alberta company that produces local, freshly milled flours, cereals and pancake mixes, and it has for over 80 years. It sources its grains, both conventional and organic, from local farmers as much as possible and processes them at its facility in Camrose.

“We build everything we do around our products being wholesome and nutritious,” says owner Brad Shapka, who bought Sunnyboy five years ago. “That goes for our cereals, our pancake mixes and our flours. We mill small quantities frequently, and that produces a fresher flour.

“Currently, most of the flour that’s available in Western Canada isn’t milled in Western Canada.”

Sunnyboy takes freshness an extra step by packaging its flour in airtight bags. Exposure to air decreases the quality of the flour, making it go bad more quickly.

“Our flour is also very unique. Our mill is imported from Italy, so it’s not typical of the mills you see in North America. The flour it produces is exceptionally fine and velvety.

“We also don’t extract anything from our flour when we mill it. Most of the bigger companies extract things — good things like protein — from the flour before packaging it and selling it to consumers.

“Our biggest challenge right now is becoming a household name again. Before taking over the company, Sunnyboy had had four or five different owners in 10 years. Supply wasn’t consistent and there were periods when our products weren’t available in retail stores,” admits Shapka. “Now we’re not only developing new products like an organic spelt flour, we’re also working on regaining consumer confidence and loyalty.”

Both Sunnyboy’s and Highwood Crossing’s products are widely available throughout Alberta. Check their websites for more information.

You might want to seek out their freshly milled flour before you start your next batch of cookies or home-baked bread.

“We go through an intense amount of effort to make bread and when you’re trying to get as much flavour as possible just from flour, water and salt, you need to use the very best ingredients,” stresses Freid. “And I think Tony’s flour is one of the absolute best.”

This is one of Sidewalk Citizen Bakery’s favourite cookie recipes, one they experimented with until they felt it was perfect both flavour- and texture-wise. Fried says it’s soft, crunchy and absolutely delicious. Feel free to add coconut or dried fruit.

Oat Cookies

(Yield: 10 cookies)

2/3 cup (160 mL) unsalted butter, room temperature

6 tablespoons (90 mL) brown sugar

8 tablespoons (120 mL) sugar

1 cup (250 mL) Highwood Crossing Flour

1 egg, room temperature

1-1/2 teaspoons (7 mL) baking soda

1-1/2 teaspoons (7 mL) baking powder

1-1/2 cups (375 mL) Highwood Crossing Rolled Oats

pinch of salt

1/2 teaspoon (3 mL) pure vanilla extract

1 cup (250 mL) dark chocolate

Mix the butter and sugar together (by hand or mixer), add the flour and egg and mix well. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix until combined.

Scoop a spoonful of the mixture onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake at 250 F for 25-30 minutes.

Enjoy.

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